A Mexican judge ordered Google to pay $245 million to a lawyer who claimed the tech giant allowed the promotion of a blog accusing it of money laundering.
But Google said in a statement that it “condemns the guilty” while confirming the punishment. The tech giant also said that the verdict was arbitrary, excessive, as well as without any evidence and it is determined to defend itself till the end.
Mexican lawyer, Ulrich Richter Morales, accused the tech platform of allowing the dissemination of a blog that identified him on charges of alleged money laundering, influence peddling and document falsification.
As reported, Richter Morales, who is the author of several books on citizenship, claimed that in 2015, he urged Google to remove the anonymous blog. He later filed a “moral damage” complaint, which he won in a lower court.
However, Google said in a statement that the Mexican court’s ruling, which was issued on June 13, undermines freedom of expression and other fundamental rights.
It is worth mentioning that in other countries, Google has already received many such complaints.
For example, in June, an Australian court ordered Google to pay a former politician $515,000 in damages for two defamatory YouTube postings.
Former Deputy Premier of New South Wales John Barillaro has filed a federal court suit against Google and comedian Jordan Shanks over the video. The court said that according to reports, Barillaro was the target of a sustained, racist, abusive and defamatory campaign on YouTube, which is a Google-owned platform.
If Google had removed the videos, which were uploaded in September and October of 2020, as requested by letter in December of that year, Barillaro said they would not have sued.
Earlier as per 2019 reports, Visaka Industries in India filed suit after the business claimed that it had sent a legal notice to Google India requesting that the article be removed. Google then petitioned the Andhra High Court to stay the proceedings, but was denied.
Later, Google India lost its appeal in the Supreme Court of India and was ordered to face criminal charges. According to the court’s decision, prior to the amendment to Section 79 of the Information Technology Act in 2009, Google India could not claim protection from the publication of defamatory material.
This provision, which protects third party intermediaries on any published material, would not apply to Google India in this case because the defamation complaint was filed prior to 2009.
However, Google Support does provide an opportunity to remove content from the Google Platform.
On its webpage, Google states, “This page will help you get to the right place to report content that you wish to be removed from Google’s services under applicable laws. Providing us with complete information will allow us to inquire about your inquiries.” Checking will help… We require you to submit a separate notice for each Google service where the content appears.”
“To report nudity/graphic sexual content or illegal impersonation, use this form” it noted, adding to a range of options such as YouTube, Blogger and Google Search.
On clicking the options, it takes to the next section where a list of concerns can be found and the user has to select an option.
People can report information that is illegal or violates Google’s Terms of Service. What happens next, without a court order, the company typically removes items such as non-consensual explicit photos, copyrighted material, or personal information (such as financial or medical data).
But if the company doesn’t remove it, people can sue Google for defamation and get a court order to remove it.
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